David Meerman Scott - Standout Virtual Events: How to create an experience that your audience will love

Standout Virtual Events

How to create an experience that your audience will love

David Meerman Scott

Michelle Manafy

Copyright 2020 David Meerman Scott & Michelle Manafy

All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher
Cover design by: Doug Eymer
Printed in the United States of America

Contents

About The Authors

Introduction: Making Connections in a Socially Distant World

In just the first two months of 2020, David delivered talks to thousands of people at 10 different in-person events on three continents.

Michelle's organization had a dozen events planned for the year, topics set, locations booked, contracts signed. And she'd already agreed to participate in many others.

Then Covid-19 hit. David's last in-person speaking engagement in 2020 was on March 3. Mid-March, Michelle's organization sent everyone home and went into wait-and-see mode. Both quickly realized that for the foreseeable future, there would be no in-person events.

David found himself in a bit of a daze when the in-person events industry vanished. For more than a decade, he had been used to delivering 30 or 40 presentations a year all over the world, racking up hundreds of thousands of air miles as he shared ideas about how organizations of all kinds create marketing strategies that turn customers into fans.

Michelle found herself part of a team that had produced live events together for many years, but with little experience in virtual events. Given the emotional, personal, and professional impact of Covid-19, some members were slow to abandon hope for the return of physical events. However, she could see that there was a need to quickly explore virtual options and build a plan.

Once he overcame his initial shock that the events business had dramatically changed, seemingly overnight, David became super excited and hopeful as he began testing many new ways to deliver content to people online. And within weeks, his work shifted to exclusively digital. Between April 2 and the end of September, when this book was completed, he delivered talks at 25 virtual events . Within a few short weeks, Michelle created a plan to shift her organization's events online, including rethinking their structure, timeline, sponsorships and more, which she pitched to key stakeholders, who jumped in to make the shift.

Both David and Michelle were quick to see that the events business and their careers were transforming in real time. In our own ways, and then together, we dug into the art and science of virtual events and looked at how to produce effective virtual events from every angle. And these explorations became the ideas you will read here.

As speakers at and organizers of virtual events, we had unique opportunities to learn from many different aspects of the events business. We spoke with virtual event organizers, event production companies, speaker bureaus, virtual event platform companies and broadcast studios, as well as attendees, sponsors, and speakers at virtual events.

We studied what makes virtual events great as well as common problems and shortcomings. We focused on what makes for a wonderful virtual presentation. And we explored the technology required and the costs of hosting a virtual event.

Once we both realized that we had amassed a unique knowledge base very quickly, this short book was born to share what we have learned with event organizers, companies considering a virtual event, speakers, and others. The goal: To help everyone produce truly great virtual events.

This guide will take event planners through understanding the basics of virtual events, including how to choose the right platform, pick the best speakers, help all of your speakers better perform in a virtual setting, figure out what costs are involved, promote your event, and consider how to avoid common shortfalls of virtual events.

For virtual event speakers, we discuss how to deliver a great talk, how to be a good partner to event organizers and how to interact with your audience.

Whether you are a seasoned event organizer or speaker making the transition to virtual events, or just getting your first event off the ground, this guide will equip you with everything you need for success.

On a personal note, we are thrilled to be working together again. Michelle was Davids very first editor nearly 20 years ago, when he was a cub contributing editor at EContent magazine. Around that time, David spoke on a panel that Michelle moderated at the Buying and Selling EContent con ference in Scottsdale, Arizona. Soon, they were collaborating on other projects including Davids 2005 book Cashing in with Content , which Michelle edited.

We want to thank the many organizations that have stepped up to create high quality virtual events at a time when many of us are hungry to learn new things, and who were kind to share their experiences with us. This steep learning curve has been tough for organizers and speakers alike. But these skills will pay off in the short and long term.

We are both firmly convinced that virtual events are here to stay, even when in-person events can resume. While in-person events will certainly return, we think many events will move to a hybrid model with some people gathered in a physical venue and others coming together online. The advantages of virtual events are clear. They offer incredible flexibility along with emerging advantages and opportunities.

We have organized the content into chapters and within each chapter there are sections. You dont have to read this book cover to cover, or in order, for it to be useful. For some readers, it might be more helpful to dip in and out of the chapters and sections that most closely meet your needs and interests. Whether you read front to back, or start with your most pressing needs or interests, we believe you will find useful insights and advice that will help you be a driving force behind creating standout virtual events that attendees will love.

Chapter 1:

What Is The Purpose of Running a Virtual Event?

From corporate gatherings, industry meetings and roadshows, to trade shows and massive expos, events have been around forever. They provide an opportunity to bring people together to share knowledge and learn from one another. Attendees can network and make new professional contacts while corporations can demonstrate their products and knowledge to potential customers. Along the way, connections are made, business is built, and if things go right, everyone leaves feeling like the event was worth the time, money and effort.

Of course, for many organizations, events are a business unto themselves. There are entire industries built around conferences, huge venues dedicated to hosting them, and a whole slew of interconnected industries that do production, light and sound, provide meals, book speakers, and other critical components.

Virtual events are not a new thing either. With the advent of digital, virtual events cropped up. The old-school webinar (web-based seminar), for example, has been around for well over a decade. However, with the shutdown of in-person events starting in early 2020, many organizations were pushed to rethink what would be possible if people could not travel or gather in large groups.

Given the size of the events industry and the revenue at stake, it is no surprise that some organizations have turned an eye to the potential of virtual events. The trouble is that when people think of virtual events, those old-school webinars are the first thing that springs to mind. While they are a good way to share knowledge and even generate revenue, webinars can hardly supplant the entire events industry in terms of revenue or experience.